cj iwakuraThe Rhythm RegentBears The Name FreedomRegistered Userregular
edited October 2007
Mostly, but the exact usage of them varies from game to game. Some let the players have all the fun(Robot Fighting Championship, where players got to be the narrators here and there), some are epic literary works(Greatwood, Ice & Fire), and some involve rampant mayhem and excruciatingly violent deaths(Insane Asylum, Oregon Trail).
I'm still not sure what I was going for with the Haruhi ones.
cj iwakuraThe Rhythm RegentBears The Name FreedomRegistered Userregular
edited October 2007
On the bright side, Bogey's indefinite obfuscate gives me more time to work on the mechanics for my ++ concept, but that's something I generally do mid-sign ups(if not mid-first day).
I still haven't thought of a proper guardian role, so it might just be a massive bloodbath.
Part of why I'm looking forward to running a ++ game. The probable mayhem looks like a fun challenge to organize.
Though if Ardor runs a Phalla Royale there... that's going to drive him mad.
I would fear more for Blarney's mental health :P
SE++ scares me. I don't wanna go. You can't make me go in there!
Shut up kid and get in the car. We're taking a trip.
Actually, we've adjusted the mechanics and roles a bit to make it much easier on ourselves, so we're ready to go when we find the time, which will hopefully happen at some point. We've also got a few people willing to help out, so we'll have plenty of help if/when the time comes.
You need narrations for the Phalla Royale, like the trial games, IMO.
The spartan SoAndSo died, next round stuff won't cut it if you do it again. It makes it so impersonal.
I suggest farming it out to the people who offered to help. Have each of them take a battle or two, and narrate them out, compiling it all together at the end.
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cj iwakuraThe Rhythm RegentBears The Name FreedomRegistered Userregular
edited October 2007
I'm literally just waiting on Bogey, and far as I can tell, he hasn't been on in at least a day and a half. All I'll need to do is write a paragraph or seven, and signups will be go.
CJ, you might consider sending a pm to the other moderators with Bogey on the list and ask if you need to wait for Bogey's approval to start a game, or if you can assume the pm was a notification and the sign of his silence is his approval. That way, youl'l either find out if they are talking about this on the mod forum or if they simply don't care.
Plutonium, it depends on the environment of the game. I'd enjoy doing the personal narration bits, but I'm not sure I want to give that information away to the students, if I state who killed who and with what. The movie wasn't very forgiving as far as Kitano's report would go and you the players added a lot of the environment to the game. I think that's why I kept the very simple narration, it just seemed to fit better.
Maybe the nightly pms can have something more to be posted at the end of the game, but we'll have to see.
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cj iwakuraThe Rhythm RegentBears The Name FreedomRegistered Userregular
edited October 2007
Unfortunately, I did do that(more or less). Orikae doesn't care, and CT said I need Bogey's approval, because he's in charge of overseeing ++ Phallas.
Be careful, if you were told that you needed approval, you will need that approval. If you didn't get told that, you could've moved forward and take the risk that someone might shut it down.
Use standard email etiquette and give him 24-48 hours to respond and then you can follow up with him. We're not trying to spam him, but any resopnse would be nice. A simple "we're talking about the future of the games in this forum" or "No" response is always better than none at all.
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cj iwakuraThe Rhythm RegentBears The Name FreedomRegistered Userregular
edited October 2007
I first contacted Bogey weeks ago, so technically, he's had more than that. I think I've sent him three PMs total.
Anyway, I asked CT based on Squashua's logic that since he hasn't responded to anyone, he has no objection.
Mostly on the grounds that I'll be working tomorrow and onward, so today's the ideal time period for me to start a sign-up.
And he did say I'd need Bogey's approval, so I'd much rather not step around that.
Yeah, it's quite clarified: Bogey's explicit approval is needed, so nothing's going down without his okay.
So I've been tossing around ideas for the venture brothers mini phalla, and was thinking of doing an alternating setup.
assuming it was a 20 person game, 10 people would be "active" on both even and odd days. each person from each side would know a person from the other side (arch-rivals), but would not know who was good or bad.
specials would be spread across both sets of 10, and could only use their powers on the active days.
So people would only be allowed to post on even or odd days? Would the people of the odd days be able to kill the even-day people? Because I can foresee some problems, then...
I think it might be easier to work with if everyone can post, but the only votes that count are the ones who are active on that day. You can easily give bad guys somewhere to hide if people can vote everyday, but their vote only counts on odd/even days.
Working two forums would be tough and I'm not sure how good people would be at making sure they only post on their respective day(s).
I'm not positive I understand what your suggesting but I can't think that only having to check in every 48 hours is going to help inactivity.
I can help make it easy for you DA, I'll beg robothero for a vigilante role so I can remove your obligations from needing to see when you can vote or perform an action in the thread. I enjoy being able to help people out and make things easier!
Oh, I should have clarified that people can post/vote on both days, but their actions are only active on their specified day.
I still don't think I understand~ Do you mean there will be 2 vigs/guardians/seers, one for even and one for odd days? Or do you plan to have a lot more roles?
I'm not positive I understand what your suggesting but I can't think that only having to check in every 48 hours is going to help inactivity.
I can help make it easy for you DA, I'll beg robothero for a vigilante role so I can remove your obligations from needing to see when you can vote or perform an action in the thread. I enjoy being able to help people out and make things easier!
Such a giver. It's like you're filled with benevolence.
I also love that I get into Infidel's game the night I come down with some weird stomach bug. Lovely.
At least I think I've slept as much as I can, now to go dig into that monster of a thread.
It's going to be like Zoidphalla, so everyone will have a role.
Ah, okay. I think that could work, should be interesting to see how people would go about forming networks. Especially as a 20-player phalla should be over in ~5 days max.
Since I know I’ve seen requests for something like this in the past, I figured I could take a little time to put my thoughts together for those who might find it helpful. Remember that this is only one person’s perspectives. I figure I owe this to folks since so many have put together games which have been a blast to play in and I’ve been in plenty of games.
People wanted to know things like tips, strategies or things to avoid when playing these games. I’ll summarize in categories of your goal, notsomuch your role because you can figure out whether this is beneficial to your team or not. A bad guy can reap the reward of a good plan as much as a good guy can.
Goal: Increase the chances of a good guy victory.
- Increase villager’s chance of success
- Decrease bad guy’s chance of success
- Playstyles
- What can I do as a normal villager with only a vote?
-Increase the villagers chance of success.
Now, this can easily be done through the creation of a network, in many past games we had people able to create the “instant network†which typically meant someone proving their innocence to such a degree that it was very certain they were good. Other specials would contact them and you’d have a network that would typically take days along with lots of luck to set up. This helps increase your chances of hitting a bad guy by the vote and/or villager kills, like the vigilante role. Usually you would help secure a better rate of success if you have a mouthpiece, provided a guardian role exists.
Other ways can involve trying new ideas out like watching voting records, checking post counts, somehow trying to fake out the bad guys etc. If you are able to get people to help out with looking at potential suspects, you can usually find ways to reduce the chances the village vote has of hitting only good guys, which is an obvious boon. Voting records usually start to be good once a confirmed bad guy has died. Otherwise, looking for people who usually follow bandwagons or never follow one are indicators of someone not paying much attention to the game or trying to hide, this includes both good specials and bad guys. It is unusual for bad guys to follow a similar voting pattern with each other because when people seem like they are acting with each other, people pick on up that stuff fast, so the safer way to play is to try to distance yourself from each other, but not to make it look like you are avoiding each other.
Otherwise, start putting out a lot of ideas why you think someone is a bad guy and try leading a bandwagon. If you lead a few bandwagons and they are unsuccessful, try looking for people who don’t say much and just follow and the third or fourth person to support your bandwagon, they have decent chances of being a bad guy who doesn’t want to be connected closely with it. Just remember that this increases the chances someone kills you, but most bad guys don’t try to control a significant amount of the votes and many don’t even attempt to put much thought into a bandwagon other than a vote with a line or two about why. Writing a paragraph tends to help convince people you aren’t a bad guy.
In a game where very little to no information is available, for example you don’t know roles or what someone is when they die, things get tougher. It’s very risky at this point to try to be a mouthpiece because if a guardian doesn’t exist, you will likely die. Not knowing whether a bad guy dies or not also significantly inhibits the use of voting records. My own thoughts on this type of game are that the good guys must try to act independently of each other. Following bandwagons prior to days 3 or 4 IMO are foolish because the only people who would have enough information to really go after someone at this early stage, is a bad guy or a stonecutter at best. Even then, reducing the chances you have of hitting a good guy by 5% or so from a stonecutter group doesn’t really make it worthwhile when it could easily be a bad guy giving you a 100% chance of hitting another good guy and thus controlling the vote.
-Decreasing the bad guy’s chances.
Sometimes there isn’t an easy way to easily get the villager’s into a better position, but you might notice things that can make a bad guy victory more likely, so try to thwart that. For example, if you notice that a bad guy getting a certain election vote or some mechanic would allow them to pass off being a seer or something, try to make that known so people can plan it. You have to assume the bad guys are creative and intelligent, so if you notice something you would try as a bad guy that you think would be worthwhile, chances are they have too. Being the first to mention it so the group is notified can help reduce the chances they have of controlling the odds more in their favor. While it may not directly increase the villager’s chances like an instant network or good plan, it can help against the bad guys gaining control of the game as well.
-Playstyles.
Try to find out how other people see you as a player. Are you quiet? Active? Do you type out long posts ever or defend yourself against accusations? This is important to everyone because trying to hide as a good guy special and no friends means if you don’t act how others think you should, the bad guys will likely notice this and target you. Same thing as a bad guy. Try to act as you always would. If need be, ask people after a game how they see you as a player. Maybe they see you as an average player with no particular traits. This is a good thing because you can surprise anyone by trying something different. If you are an active poster for example and you slow down, this tends to get you noticed quickly in these games and marked for some kind of death. As a villager, this is a double-edged sword because the very person you target for acting differently may be someone on your team with something more than a vote. It’s a risk you take, but noticing these things will help you pick targets better in the long run, which is something I’m terrible at myself.
As an example, I’ve been told I’m active, so if I’m not posting in the upper half or more during a game, people consider me suspicious or trying to hide something. I’ve also come forward with a lot of ideas, plans or strategies in past games. If it doesn’t look like I’m being helpful in any way, that usually suggests I’m a bad guy or trying to hide something.
-What can I do as a villager with only a vote?
Many people would agree that this is the least exciting role to have in a game. However, you also have the greatest opportunities for your team because there are a ton of risks you can take that wouldn’t really screw your team over when you die. Starting bandwagons, naming targets, coming up with ideas or just being vocal enough to make you a threat will all increase your chances of dying of course, but at least you got to have some fun before you died right?
The one thing that’s a big risk due to backfire, is claiming to be a good guy special when you are not, at least in the public thread. Now, if multiple people did this, it could serve a positive end by throwing too much information that may be false at the bad guys. However, confirming a group that size means you’re a part of a stonecutter network or you have some trusted individuals working with you, by whatever means.
Besides, you have nothing to lose, so try to make some waves to make sure the bad guys don’t control the voting, the one thing you have the numbers to control but not the information.
Also, look for people who seem to know a little too much information. Usually the people who let that be known and make missteps are the bad guys. So if I came out and talked about some mechanic but let a detail go out there that isn’t confirmed anywhere, that suggests I have information others do not. Being a solo good guy special with no contacts make your more reserved than a bad guy, who’s usually a little more comfortable with his/her group, so the chances of me being a bad guy are more likely than a good guy special.
Again, this is just thoughts from one player, but thought I’d contribute this since I know people have asked before for someone’s thoughts on this stuff. Others can come in and correct me for anything dumb I’ve written above. I could probably look for examples later if people wanted to know if I am referencing anything specifically with any of the above.
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tuxkamenreally took this picture.Registered Userregular
edited October 2007
Out of curiosity, is there some kind of mod-based cleanup/organization of the past Phallas into a new subforum? I can't get to the threads for mine/other past D&D games, for example.
Posts
I suck at them and haven't really bothered more than basic stuff.
I'm still not sure what I was going for with the Haruhi ones.
you'll understand the Oregon narrations with the reveal
Depends on which side your on...
The other one was just bad luck on jdarksun's part.
I still haven't thought of a proper guardian role, so it might just be a massive bloodbath.
Though I guess it's more fun for a GM than a player. More players means more roles. Gives the bad team a better chance too, probably.
Part of why I'm looking forward to running a ++ game. The probable mayhem looks like a fun challenge to organize.
Though if Ardor runs a Phalla Royale there... that's going to drive him mad.
SE++ scares me. I don't wanna go. You can't make me go in there!
Just instead of a waiting list, you have to get Bogey's approval, which is a feat in and of itself. :P
Shut up kid and get in the car. We're taking a trip.
Actually, we've adjusted the mechanics and roles a bit to make it much easier on ourselves, so we're ready to go when we find the time, which will hopefully happen at some point. We've also got a few people willing to help out, so we'll have plenty of help if/when the time comes.
The spartan SoAndSo died, next round stuff won't cut it if you do it again. It makes it so impersonal.
I suggest farming it out to the people who offered to help. Have each of them take a battle or two, and narrate them out, compiling it all together at the end.
Plutonium, it depends on the environment of the game. I'd enjoy doing the personal narration bits, but I'm not sure I want to give that information away to the students, if I state who killed who and with what. The movie wasn't very forgiving as far as Kitano's report would go and you the players added a lot of the environment to the game. I think that's why I kept the very simple narration, it just seemed to fit better.
Maybe the nightly pms can have something more to be posted at the end of the game, but we'll have to see.
Bogey can infract ME by proxy if he gets pissy.
And I'll be putting too much work into the OP to just have it locked.
Use standard email etiquette and give him 24-48 hours to respond and then you can follow up with him. We're not trying to spam him, but any resopnse would be nice. A simple "we're talking about the future of the games in this forum" or "No" response is always better than none at all.
Anyway, I asked CT based on Squashua's logic that since he hasn't responded to anyone, he has no objection.
Mostly on the grounds that I'll be working tomorrow and onward, so today's the ideal time period for me to start a sign-up.
And he did say I'd need Bogey's approval, so I'd much rather not step around that.
Yeah, it's quite clarified: Bogey's explicit approval is needed, so nothing's going down without his okay.
assuming it was a 20 person game, 10 people would be "active" on both even and odd days. each person from each side would know a person from the other side (arch-rivals), but would not know who was good or bad.
specials would be spread across both sets of 10, and could only use their powers on the active days.
does this seem stupid or like a semi-good idea?
Working two forums would be tough and I'm not sure how good people would be at making sure they only post on their respective day(s).
Just a small thought on what you've given us.
I can help make it easy for you DA, I'll beg robothero for a vigilante role so I can remove your obligations from needing to see when you can vote or perform an action in the thread. I enjoy being able to help people out and make things easier!
Such a giver. It's like you're filled with benevolence.
I also love that I get into Infidel's game the night I come down with some weird stomach bug. Lovely.
At least I think I've slept as much as I can, now to go dig into that monster of a thread.
People wanted to know things like tips, strategies or things to avoid when playing these games. I’ll summarize in categories of your goal, notsomuch your role because you can figure out whether this is beneficial to your team or not. A bad guy can reap the reward of a good plan as much as a good guy can.
Goal: Increase the chances of a good guy victory.
- Increase villager’s chance of success
- Decrease bad guy’s chance of success
- Playstyles
- What can I do as a normal villager with only a vote?
-Increase the villagers chance of success.
Other ways can involve trying new ideas out like watching voting records, checking post counts, somehow trying to fake out the bad guys etc. If you are able to get people to help out with looking at potential suspects, you can usually find ways to reduce the chances the village vote has of hitting only good guys, which is an obvious boon. Voting records usually start to be good once a confirmed bad guy has died. Otherwise, looking for people who usually follow bandwagons or never follow one are indicators of someone not paying much attention to the game or trying to hide, this includes both good specials and bad guys. It is unusual for bad guys to follow a similar voting pattern with each other because when people seem like they are acting with each other, people pick on up that stuff fast, so the safer way to play is to try to distance yourself from each other, but not to make it look like you are avoiding each other.
Otherwise, start putting out a lot of ideas why you think someone is a bad guy and try leading a bandwagon. If you lead a few bandwagons and they are unsuccessful, try looking for people who don’t say much and just follow and the third or fourth person to support your bandwagon, they have decent chances of being a bad guy who doesn’t want to be connected closely with it. Just remember that this increases the chances someone kills you, but most bad guys don’t try to control a significant amount of the votes and many don’t even attempt to put much thought into a bandwagon other than a vote with a line or two about why. Writing a paragraph tends to help convince people you aren’t a bad guy.
In a game where very little to no information is available, for example you don’t know roles or what someone is when they die, things get tougher. It’s very risky at this point to try to be a mouthpiece because if a guardian doesn’t exist, you will likely die. Not knowing whether a bad guy dies or not also significantly inhibits the use of voting records. My own thoughts on this type of game are that the good guys must try to act independently of each other. Following bandwagons prior to days 3 or 4 IMO are foolish because the only people who would have enough information to really go after someone at this early stage, is a bad guy or a stonecutter at best. Even then, reducing the chances you have of hitting a good guy by 5% or so from a stonecutter group doesn’t really make it worthwhile when it could easily be a bad guy giving you a 100% chance of hitting another good guy and thus controlling the vote.
-Decreasing the bad guy’s chances.
-Playstyles.
As an example, I’ve been told I’m active, so if I’m not posting in the upper half or more during a game, people consider me suspicious or trying to hide something. I’ve also come forward with a lot of ideas, plans or strategies in past games. If it doesn’t look like I’m being helpful in any way, that usually suggests I’m a bad guy or trying to hide something.
-What can I do as a villager with only a vote?
The one thing that’s a big risk due to backfire, is claiming to be a good guy special when you are not, at least in the public thread. Now, if multiple people did this, it could serve a positive end by throwing too much information that may be false at the bad guys. However, confirming a group that size means you’re a part of a stonecutter network or you have some trusted individuals working with you, by whatever means.
Besides, you have nothing to lose, so try to make some waves to make sure the bad guys don’t control the voting, the one thing you have the numbers to control but not the information.
Also, look for people who seem to know a little too much information. Usually the people who let that be known and make missteps are the bad guys. So if I came out and talked about some mechanic but let a detail go out there that isn’t confirmed anywhere, that suggests I have information others do not. Being a solo good guy special with no contacts make your more reserved than a bad guy, who’s usually a little more comfortable with his/her group, so the chances of me being a bad guy are more likely than a good guy special.
Again, this is just thoughts from one player, but thought I’d contribute this since I know people have asked before for someone’s thoughts on this stuff. Others can come in and correct me for anything dumb I’ve written above. I could probably look for examples later if people wanted to know if I am referencing anything specifically with any of the above.
Games: Ad Astra Per Phalla | Choose Your Own Phalla